A Tesla Cybertruck owner shares his truck was totaled after it was sideswiped by an E-scooter. However, the insurance company is only offering to pay him a “fair market price” of $77K, even though he paid $198K for the truck and still owes the bank $171K.
The difference is not the cost in damage. That’s just how much cyber trucks depreciate in value. $77k is the value of a used Cybertruck on the market that is as old as his damaged truck. Insurance never pays out the new car retail value, they pay out market value of the car that’s the same age.
Right? I didn’t say anything contradicting this. They total your vehicle when the cost to repair the damage is greater than or equal to the fair market value. If the damage was $50k, the insurance company would pay to repair it instead of replacing it. Because they are giving him the FMV, the damage is more than $77k.
It’s a little more complicated than that. They also factor in salvage value, and what it’d be worth after repair. Basically, whatever is cheaper for them. I’m guessing the battery and motors are quite valuable as salvage parts, and the value of a repaired CT is substantially lower.
For instance- my 2017 2 door coupe, and my partners 2019 small SUV were both crushed in hurricane Helene. Adjusters stopped adding repair costs at $12k for my coupe, which they paid me $32k for. Her SUV was basically the same story- $11k in damage was enough to total it, and they paid her $24k.
I always assumed the motors and batteries are paired with the cars the same way iPhone screens and batteries are, making them valueless for scrap unless you’re Tesla and can put in the right code…
The inverters and hvjb could implement those features but you can’t really DRM copper windings and nickel cell casings